Miscellaneous Fast Facts, Last Updated:09/06/2010
While relativity holds that the speed of light
in a vacuum is a
universal constant (c), the speed of light
in a material may be significantly less than c. For example, the
speed of light in water is
only 0.75c. Matter can be
accelerated beyond this speed during nuclear reactions and in
particle accelerators. Cherenkov
radiation results when a charged particle, most commonly an
electron, exceeds the
speed of light in a dielectric medium through which it passes. |
